NASA Internship: Day 1
I'm here. It's 5:30 pm and I am about to leave the lab (my lab!) after my first day fulfilling a lifelong dream: working for NASA. Getting here was pretty rough, I forgot things, and got off to a late start, then got caught in some major construction traffic on 278, but I eventually got to Moffet Field/AMES. Once I had recieved my ID badge, and filled out a ton of paperwork, and checked into my room (which is fairly spartan, but should do the job), I found myself eating at one of two on-base eateries, McDonalds. The excitement I have been feeling for the past month was overwhelming as I sat surrounded by NASA scientists and ate my chicken sandwitch.
When I arrived at Eric Mueller's office (he is my 'sponsor' and essentially co-researcher and boss) he wasn't in, but Ralph, who shares the office with him, chatted with me for a while and then showed me to the lab. This is my lab now. I work here! There will be plenty of pictures taken and posted tomorrow, now that I know that I'm allowed to take them. I read through my QNX Neutrino Realtime Programming manual for a few hours and fiddled with some code, but eventually Eric showed up.
My first task is essentially to develope an encompasing map of the UAV and ground-station hardware/software. Once that is completed, I'll move onto creating a communications package to send data up and down from the plane.
I have a lot to learn.
Comments
Hey! So nasa -- that rocks! I just thought I'd say that I'm happy for ya! I kinda know how it feels. I'm working for AFRL-VASM-SI (air force research lab - air vehicles - structural mechanics - structural integrity team.) I get to do stress and heat testing on a new style of funtionally grated tiles for the space shuttle. It's... well ...awesome. But yeah... maybe talk to you later sometime. Have a good one!